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  • From: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [BL] dual boot DOS and XP
  • Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:26:29 +0000 (UTC)

People give me laptops with XP on them, (mostly) working, including support for built-in wireless cards, network cards, modems, USB, and sound, that I can't get to work yet in BL, so I am keeping XP to go online with, but I want to add BL.

If XP is FAT32 and was installed on top of Win98 or DOS, you already get the choice at boot time. (Just boot into 'WINDOWS', or attrib -r -s -h boot.ini and change the shorter line with WINDOWS to read DOS if you prefer than attrib +r +s +h). You can reformat to FAT32 and sys with DOS71 (Win98) and then reinstall XP, but then you have to hunt down drivers (in my case I lost sound in one laptop, wireless in another).
Supposedly there are ways to add DOS to XP in NTFS too.

I have run across a few very complex sets of instructions on how to add DOS to XP in FAT32, involving sys c: (now boots to DOS), XP installation CD recovery console fixboot (boots to XP again), and also bootcfg /rebuild (asks you whether to add other versions of Windows and name them but this part does not work even though it modifies boot.ini - it won't boot to 'Windows98' or 'DOS'). Avoid fixmbr if you already got it working dual-boot with linux and XP (this process managed to delete XP)

Someone else packaged three files to be added to a Windows boot disk
containing things like debug and choice already. Have not tried it yet.

If you have a floppy drive just boot from floppy disk. I was able to shrink XP (after removing hibernat.sys, the swap file, and all restore points) and defrag, using PQMagic 8 (previous versions can destroy XP), make ext2 partitions and install BL, and boot with DOS floppy then to BL with loadlin. Also to set up BL with lilo (see archives about how to copy the bootsector that lilo makes, using dd, to a file in c:\ and add a line to boot.ini to choose XP or LINUX).

Newer laptops don't have floppy disks and even older ones are sometimes missing them (people pass them along with a CD-ROM drive in the multibay).

Is there some simple way to add DOS boot to XP in FAT32?
sys c: creates c:\bootsect.dos (hidden file)

Sindi Keesan




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